In The Palm Of Your Tiny Hand
by RapunzelInTheSnow
Summary: An accident involving the Hand of the Doctor at the Torchwood Warehouse resulted in five babies - Jack, Sam, Nikolai, Vida and Cadfan. Only, when Cadfan was four years old, he was taken by Genma Saotome, and named after the man's dead son, Ranma. Now discovered to be one of the Five Young Lords, Ranma must return...Co-author with kellym01.
1. Chapter 1

Torchwood Five was not that large – more of a storehouse for random bits of alien tech than anything else, located near the Welsh border. Around five or so people worked there – their qualifications were in cataloguing and creating databases for what they had. Occasionally Three would dump more stuff on them that was not useful and then it would be shifted into storage.

Simon Tuga was one of these people – his life was relaxed for the most part. As the eldest in his family, he knew about children, and often wished for one of his own, but never really being able to last in a relationship due to the demands of his job.

Jack Harkness was visiting today, a man who Simon was somewhat timid about talking to, holding a jar of some sort. He was currently describing what he was doing to Fi Caspersen, who was listening with a raised eyebrow.

"We found that some of the technology here might be Gallifreyan, so we came to check it out. There is a new category in the whole active/inactive sorting - _reactive. _It might react to the Hand."

Fi rolled her eyes. "You do realise that thing creeps me out? It is a living hand. A living hand, Jack. You might as well give it to the Addams family as a bride for the one they have."

Nodoka Saotome peered over – a new recruit, she often talked about the training journey that her son and husband were on. "It does sound interesting though! What would it do?"

Jack grinned. "Well, that's what we are going to find out, sweetie."

Simon ran up. "You brought the Hand of the Doctor here?" he yelped, before Nodoka shouted a warning. Water on the ground caused the unfortunate young man to skid, knock into Jack, who let go of the jar in surprise, which flew over their heads and crashed into a shelf, smashing it. Jack fell, Simon wrapped in his arms, and a blinding flash whipped past them. Nodoka gasped, Simon yelped and tried to scramble off of the Captain, Fi screamed and Jack stayed silent. A loud voice swore from a few aisles away and Joseph ran up. "What the hell just happened?" their boss screeched, face red with anger. Nodoka whimpered in pain – she had always had quite sensitive eyes – and another member of the team led her off to the infirmary.

A strange noise echoed and Fi ran over to the other side of the large shelving that the Hand had crashed into, letting out a strangled sound.

"Oh, God. It did react!" she called over in a high pitched voice, followed by a sound never heard in the storehouse before.

The cry of a child.

…

There were five of them. Five little babies – Jack whistled in a low tone.

"Better find out what species they are. Scan them?" he asked Joseph, who nodded to Fi. Fi pulled a scanning device (cobbled together from Judoon tech) and gulped as the results were displayed upon one of the screens.

"Jack…you may want to take a look at this" Fi called, her expression one of shock, Jack ran over to her and peered over her shoulder, his eyes widened in the process.

"But…that's impossible" Jack said slowly.

"What is?…What are they, Jack?" Joseph asked in a worried tone. Simon stayed silent – after all, this was his fault. He took off his jacket and wrapped around a baby with darkish hair and big, solemn grey eyes.

"They're…just not possible…they're Timelords." Jack stated, his tone one of fear, his eyes wide. Simon felt his stomach drop, but carried on cradling the baby. Fi kept scanning and turned to him.

"That is the only female you're holding, Simon."

"What does that matter?!" Joseph asked her. "What the hell are we going to do with them?!"

"We can't let them out of our sight, they were cloned from the Doctor's DNA and I can think of more than a few 'people' who would love to get their hands on them…" Jack pointed out.

Fi snorted. "Let them help us with the dirty nappies, then."

Jack frowned. "I'm serious, Fiona, they must be kept secret until we can come up with a more permanent solution," Jack explained.

Simon cleared his throat. "We could keep them. You know that we could…" he pleaded. Jack looked surprised but nodded. The man who had taken Nodoka away – Spike - came up at that point.

"Until her eyes recover properly, Mrs Saotome will be taking a leave of absence," he announced. Joseph groaned, muttering under his breath about females being better at this sort of thing and Fi sighed. "We could always call in Hannah – you know, my cousin? She retired to bring up her kid, but now Jim's at university she could help us. She was a Torchwood operative…"

"That is good – it's a good idea. We can't tell anyone about this – Don't you agree, Jack?" Joseph asked. Jack looked up from making faces at one of the babies, and Fi bit her lip, tugging off her coat and swaddling a baby in it. "They'll get too cold before long. Spike, go down to the village and get some baby supplies - quickly." Spike dumped his shirt before he did so, shivering in his T-shirt. Before long, the roar of his motorbike could be heard.

Jack smiled. "I think it would be a good idea. That technology that produced the tykes is similar to Dalek technology – only that bit cleverer – I had a quick look while Spike was yapping on about the sweetie. I'm taking the Hand away from here – call me if you need help, okay?" He picked up the Hand, making his way towards the exit.

Soon, all the babies were wrapped up as warmly as possible, and they had fallen asleep, allowing them to get a good look at them. The little girl was still clutching Simon's finger with a strong grip, and he sighed. Fi handed one to Joseph, laying two down by her and cradling one in her arms as she called Hannah, stating that it was an emergency, and could she possibly bring an overnight back and some of Jim's baby clothes? Evidently, her cousin agreed, and she ended the call, looking down at the baby she held.

He had darkish hair, and a sort of pale complexion, and had, before they closed, had brown eyes that blinked somewhat owlishly. The baby Joseph held had blue eyes and again, dark hair, but seemed to be crying crossly before he fell asleep. The smallest baby had lovely curling black hair, and green-blue eyes, the last boy had almost indigo eyes and pinkish cheeks alongside blond hair, and the girl had black hair and grey eyes that seemed to be a little unhappy.

"They're adorable, they truly are…" Fi said quietly, cradling the pale baby. The girl also had the same sort of complexion, but not quite. Simon smiled.

"I….I hope they all are happy. Truly."

…

Hannah arrived an hour after Spike, and laughed a little at the chaos that was going on. Spike was panicking with holding the blond-haired baby, who was waving his arms about as Spike tried to put him into clothes, managing it somewhat haphazardly. The tiniest one began to whimper and fuss, apparently having been left alone for the minute, so she stepped forward and scooped the green-eyed baby with a loving smile, cooing in a way that calmed him a little. She picked up the baby clothes that had been bought for the little girl, and slipped the bewildered baby into a dress.

"This one is such a princess!" she laughed, and Simon coughed, trying not to laugh while tucking a little pink all-in-one onto the little girl.

"That one's a boy, Hannah…." Fi said quietly and Hannah blinked before frowning at the little boy, who didn't seem to care much. She sighed but kept holding him.

"He's so sweet, and he doesn't mind…." she cajoled, and Fi rolled her eyes, but dived forward to the bag of baby clothes, handing Joseph a pair of leggings and a top with a little set of red stars on it for the blue-eyed baby. She dressed hers in a little dark blue all in one, and Hannah bit her lip.

"Do we have any cradles at all for them?" she asked, and they all looked surprised. She made a face but instructed Spike to order some from a good store which she gave him the number off, stressing that they should be brought immediately. In the middle of this, the babies looked around with wide eyes, unaware of the chaos that they had been causing.


	2. Chapter 2

It was four years later that the harmony was disrupted among the little group, codenamed by Torchwood Five the Five Young Lords. They had grown much further than the babies they had been – although they had been much harder to take care of when they were younger.

Jack, named after the Captain, was still as blond as when he had been a baby, although now he had shown he had a happy personality, forever leaving things where they shouldn't be as a sort of joke. His eyes were still a lovely indigo that sparkled when he was laughing.

Sam, a rather silent child, often could be found mucking about with technology, resulting in him being easy to care for – just give him some old parts and a screwdriver and he would be entertained for ages. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes, but his complexion was vaguely eerie.

Nikolai was still being dressed in female clothing and could sometimes be found going through Fi and Hannah's clothes – a trait Hannah encouraged and admitted as her fault entirely. He did look like a girl, as his black hair had been allowed to grow out long, and his sea-green eyes were surrounded by long, curling lashes – he made a beautiful picture however he was dressed.

Vida, the girl, had deep grey eyes that seemed too old and wise for the four-year-old face, which was framed by dark, straight hair that fell to her shoulders. She was reading much quicker than the others.

Cadfan, the last, had good reflexes brought on by Spike training him in a few martial arts. His curly dark hair and blue eyes fitted well with his somewhat tan complexion.

A large space had been cleared to act as a room for the five children, who always were looking for something to interest them. This morning, Vida and Sam were sorting through a box of Lego, taking the black bricks and then building what looked like some sort of large house with them, picking out little themed Lego bits to make it look better, talking in a quiet tone. Nikolai was trying to do some sort of sewing to create something – it looked like a rabbit. He was stuffing it with wool, and his curls were tied into two bunches. Jack was reading a book and turning it sideways to look at the pictures. Cadfan was clicking at a computer, playing a game of some sort, before Nikolai looked up with a smile, walking over to offer him something – a ladybird-shaped button.

"Can I have a go?" he asked, and Cadfan made a little face.

"I got to a good level, Nikky! Why don't you play with Vee and Sam?" he asked, and Vida looked up.

"Because he obviously wants to play with you…We could use both of you to look for things for the Black Castle!" She smiled widely, showing baby teeth, whereas Jack had lost his first baby tooth last week, opting to keep it in a box rather than let any 'stupid girly fairy' have it. Cadfan smiled, pausing the game and reaching out to take Nikolai's hand and pull him over.

"Me and Nikky are gonna build the Grey Castle!" he said adamantly, and Nikolai gave him a big smile. The Black and Grey Castles were something they had made up in a small world of theirs, and would often talk about the journeying knights (themselves, of course). Hannah came walking through with a smile, picking up Cadfan and holding him close. "Hello, my darlings!" she cooed, and Nikolai immediately rushed to hug her, while Cadfan muttered about not being a baby. She put him down gently and ruffled Nikolai's hair.

"Spike wants to go through more training today, but Fi and I thought you might want to have a snack afterwards, so what do you want?" she asked. Vida scrunched her nose up, and grinned suddenly. "Can I have gingerbread?"

"I want jam sandwiches!" Jack said loudly, and Sam bit his lip. He tugged on Hannah's sleeve, and whispered in her ear.

"Of course you can have banana, Sam…Cadfan? Nikolai? What do you want?"

Cadfan fiddled with his braid – his hair was quite long, and he refused to have it cut – and he made a stubborn face. "I want fruit skewers."

Nikolai hugged Cadfan and smiled. "Pear wheels, please!"

Hannah smiled gently, and Cadfan seized Nikolai and Sam's hands, pulling them through the sets of shelving towards the room where Spike would be waiting, while Vida and Jack ran after them.

…

After training, the children were led by Spike to the table, where there were several plates so that there was enough of each food for all the children to have some. Gingerbread men were on one small plate, sliced banana on another, jam sandwiches on yet another, pinwheel sandwiches filled with chopped pear on another, and fruit kebab-style things were on the last. As they were eating, Joseph walked in and gave Cadfan a grin. "So, how is training going?"

Cadfan grinned back and gave him a somewhat sticky thumbs up, while Sam sighed. He was good at defensive arts for his age, but the least capable of the group, whereas he excelled in their lessons that were not as practical. Vida was smart in each, and Nikolai was good at reading, but showed promise with their training – he did not get distracted as he normally would do when they were being taught. Jack was also good at their lessons, but did not pay enough attention.

Spike cleared his throat. "Everyone is doing well, Joseph. By the time they are grown, they will be better, probably, than me." He smiled quickly at Sam, who felt his spirits lift. If Spike didn't mind, it was okay.

After lunch, Nikolai was taken to a corner of the play area by Vida, who wanted to swop beads. These would often be given by Hannah or Fi if they behaved or might be bought especially. Sam was drawing ghosts, while Jack was attempting to learn what he had been told was another language on Earth – French. It was going quite well, but he could only say 'hello', 'thank you', 'good-bye' and 'dinosaur' and remember it. Cadfan had opted to go back to the computer and complete his level.

Vida looked up suddenly, frowning at Sam. "Did you want to sort out the tech again?" she asked, and Nikolai looked as well, before packing his beads away into the box he had been given for them. Sam shrugged but Vida pulled out a box from under the little wooden shelving, in which was several bits of metal and various screws. They began to sort through them and cobbled together some odd things, before undoing them and resorting. Nikolai gave a little huff and went to the wall hanger that he had been bought last Christmas, a My Melody themed one, and starting to sew the rabbit thing he had been making earlier.

…

It was night, and all the children were tucked up, various toys and bits of tech scattered around their play-space. Vida held tightly on to her favourite toy, a bunny with a little ribbon tied around its neck and a tutu – typically the type of thing a child might like. The unknown man let his face soften as he looked at the children. Sam had a toy which looked like a cuddly Ood, and Jack was clinging to a dinosaur. Nikolai was holding a bear in a pink jumper. He could remember a time when his son looked just as peaceful, looked just as calm and happy – although the last time he had seen him like that it had been too peaceful. The man caught his breath as his gaze rested on Cadfan.

_He looks just like my son._

Quietly, he tugged the boy's stuffed bear from his arms, scooping him into his arms. It was Ranma, back from the dead! No need for anyone to worry – he would train his son all over again, no one needed to know that Ranma Saotome lay buried in a grave. This, for all anyone knew, _was _Ranma Saotome.

…

When it was discovered that Cadfan was missing the next morning, the children began to howl and cry, Hannah and Fi sobbing. They would try everything to track him down, but it would all be for naught.

Slowly, without anyone noticing, they accepted that he was as good as dead, and the children grieved until they knew, if anyone asked, that Cadfan was gone. Not dead, they would never say dead, but gone forever.


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter is written by kellym01 (as well as a little editing from myself) – Snow~**

Now several years later, the small baby had grown up to become the greatest martial artist of his generation, but at such a price, he grew up not because he wanted to but because he had to, to survive, he was put through more than a decade of hell, under the misleading name of 'training.'

A lot had happened since that fateful night - he had trained in the worst possible way, such as when he was five and Genma had 'taught' him to swim by throwing him into the ocean, a rope tied around his gut and after a couple minutes he'd pull him back up so Ranma could catch his breath, before beating him for not learning and tossing him back into the water. Soon Ranma had learned and then Genma tied large rocks to his limbs and tossed him back in, telling him to swim to shore, beating him every time he had to pull him out. This continued for three months, at least.

When he was six, Genma tossed him off cliffs to strengthen his body's stamina so he could take more hits. In the same year he was put through the Neko-Ken and when he was seven 'speed training' began - Genma would tie some meat to him and throw him into the sight of a pack of hungry wolves and tell him to escape. When Ranma became fast enough Genma repeated the training, attaching heavy objects to his limbs with rope. The strain nearly tore his muscles, bringing him great pain – by now, he knew that crying would only earn him another severe beating – weakness was not tolerable within a martial artist.

The training had gotten worse with every year and when he came to Nerima his life only became worse – sure, the 'training' stopped but it had a price for him to have whether he chose this or not - he found himself engaged to a violent tomboy who would rather kill him than be nice to him, she blamed him for everything that went wrong. So did the others - even when the dojo destroyer came and he stepped in when Akane had all but lost and he worked with her to defeat the threat she decided had gotten in her way and it was her duty to defend her school.

That was only the beginning, as from then on Akane found and used every opportunity she had to beat him and then when the Amazons showed up it got worse, originally Akane didn't have much of a problem with the amazon and even turned Ranma into a girl so said Amazon would try to kill her but when by accidently 'defeating' said Amazon (when in fact she had knocked herself out when her own bomborio hit her on the head) and he ended up engaged to her, Akane decided it was his fault and started beating him even more, even when Shampoo 'hugged' him and he tried to escape, the enraged Akane would beat him.

And then there was Kodachi and Ukyo, both wanting to marry him and kill him, Ukyo his old childhood friend - his only friend- turned up trying to kill him for something Genma did and Kodachi wanted to marry him while kill his female form. Then there was the failed wedding - that's when it all struck Ranma; he was trapped and was going to suffer eternally, he had killed Saffron, a phoenix god and was about to marry Akane when the other fiancés intervened. He had defeated his strongest enemy and nothing had changed.

Ranma was currently eating his lunch that Kasumi made him beneath his tree, alone, Ranma enjoyed the moments of peace he had, when he could finally rest, have a break from the chaos, he felt the sun's rays cast over him as his upper torso hid in the shade. He knew it wouldn't last long and soon his fiancés would arrive to feed him, the only random part was if a rival showed up before Akane malleted him for been a jerk and a pervert.

'Sometimes I just wonder if this worth it, day after day the same thing happens, I wake up soaked and sparring with a panda, I change back into a guy, head to school, run in with Kuno, kick him into Leo, get drained by Hinako for been late, by the time I fully recover I've missed most of class, at lunch I eat what I have, my fiancés show up, I get malleted far across Nerima and have to walk back and at some point or another I run into a rival and fight and then I go 'home' and get insulted by Akane and her usual logic before getting malleted again before going to bed and then the cycle begins again' Ranma mused to himself as he let out a depressed sigh, eyes staring up at the leaves waving in the slight breeze.

Then he heard it, the bike bell, he knew there was no point in moving when Shampoo's bike would hit him and sure enough it did. Within seconds it was removed and Shampoo was offering him ramen, then Ukyo came up to him and began forcing okinomiyaki down his throat.

"Look, I don't want any ramen or okinomiyaki!" Ranma practically screamed, his fiancés paid him little attention.

"See, Ranchan doesn't want you and your ramen so why don't you leave us alone" Ukyo spat venomously at the Amazon, who blew a raspberry in response.

"No airen say he no want Spatula girl okinomiyaki, you go bie bie now" Shampoo responded smugly, and Ukyo glared. Ranma let out another depressive sigh and slowly stood and pushed past his fiancés, heading back to the school building and hoping he'd be able to find somewhere peaceful to finish his lunch. He knew it was futile.

"Where you going, Ranchan?" Ukyo asked.

"Airen, wait for Shampoo!" Shampoo called as she and Ukyo ran up beside him and hugged onto his arms, pushing their chests into his upper arms in the process.

"Please, just leave me alone…" Ranma sighed, he could feel it, deep within him his rage was boiling, telling him to _stop taking this shit_ but Ranma dared not listen to it - he would not hurt them, would not fight them, not unless he had to and right now he didn't.

Ukyo heard his tone and froze, her eyes widening slightly, she looked up to see Ranma's eyes cascaded, watching the ground intently as he waited for them to let go or for something to happen.

'That tone, I've heard Ranma use it before, it's not arrogant, cocky, confident, not even sad…it's empty…' Ukyo gasped as her thoughts led her to this conclusion, her eyes widening.

"RANMA, YOU PERVERTED JERK!" Akane screamed having seen Ukyo and Shampoo hugging his arms. She whipped out her mallet, charging at him, pulling it back before swinging it at him in a golf like fashion, hitting his face as it was locked on the ground, his body tearing free of his fiancés' grasp and was sent flying, watching as the people on the ground got smaller and smaller.

'Who knows, maybe this time…when I land…it will all be over' Ranma thought to himself. His gaze then locked on Akane's expression - she was smirking and the look in her eyes, when Ranma saw that something within him died and he unlocked it. One of the most dangerous techniques of the Anything Goes School, a black aura surrounding him in a fire like fashion, his eyes gained a dead look in them.

'She really does hate me and…I…am truly alone' Ranma thought within his mind as the last bit of emotion within his mental voice died, he repositioned his flight pattern so he would land head first and from the height he was at and the speed he would fall he was certain the minute he hit the ground he'd die and be free, finally free of this hell on Earth. If only Ranma had seen where he was going to land.

Meanwhile…

Nodoka had been drinking her tea in her garden, enjoying the summer air - it was so hot and the summer breeze most enjoyable she was content with everything, her only wish been that her son could be there to share it with her.

A loud crash was heard and clouds of dirt and dust clouded Nodoka's view and she turned, trying to find the source and what had happened, a flashback to a similar incident from her past filling her with a peculiar sense of dread. When the smoke cleared, she saw a large crater taking up more than half her garden. Slowly, she headed to the edge, expecting to see a meteor or some debris from a space craft - it wouldn't be the first time, after all. But what she saw took her breath away in a tearing, dizzying motion, her eyes filled with a sick horror, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to gasp for air.

For within the crater was Ranma's body, stood upside down, a stump of what used to be his head standing in a thickening pool of blood, the body flopped down, chest in the ground.

"Ranma…no…it can't…be…Ranma" Nodoka stuttered, her tears increasing.

Nodoka remained still, eyes locked on the headless corpse as blood continued to pour out, and then she fell to her knees. Ignoring the fact that her kimono was getting filthy in the upturned mud, Nodoka pounded her fists on the ground in her rage and grief, swearing she would find whoever did this to her son and avenge him by putting them through the slowest and most gruesome death they could possibly imagine. Her son, her baby boy who she had once thought she would lose completely in the hands of Genma - a baby she had held in her arms, eyes softly cast upon him as he curled and uncurled his tiny fists. No one should have taken him away from her, no matter what the reason.

The body flinched, Nodoka's eyes widening in shock as a yellow energy slowly curled out of the hole where the head once was and began to reshape until the head was restored, all injuries on his body healed and soon there laid an unconscious Ranma, looking so peaceful, the only sign of a struggle been the damaged clothing. Nodoka couldn't believe what she had just witnessed, she rushed to her child's side and pulled him into her embrace, cradling him, continuing her weeping, no longer knowing if they were tears of great sorrow or joy.

Meanwhile…

A man in a large coat was scanning with a device some miles away, and his eyebrows shot up with what he was reading.

"Hello, what's this?" he murmured, eyes sparkling with humour, his eyebrows furrowing slightly in confusion when the results of the scan were confirmed.

'But that's…impossible!' he gasped within his mind, although his face did not flicker one bit.


End file.
